Image Credit: https://www.womensvoicesnow.org/ahou-daryaei
Content Disclaimer: Mention of violence, rape
We women in the Western World, bandy around the word and sentiment of misogyny when our hard earned equal rights are blatantly, or by the back door, undermined or challenged. If it is still fundamentally a man’s world in the good old UK (the 2025 Gender Pay Gap report states that pay equality will not be reached for another 40 years), then imagine when we apply our daily outrages to the lives of Iranian women.
Iran has a rich history of culture, art and science, with men and women working side by side. The 20th Century saw a very westernised, democratic civilisation with a Shah (monarch) at the head. The White Revolution, starting in 1963, saw the improvements of rights for women and by the 1970s women were in public office and parliament. Much controversy followed the last Shah – with a hardening of autocracy so the Islamic Revolution was a walk over in 1979, lead by the hardline religious zealot, Ayatollah Khomeini.
With a blink of an eye, the world these women knew and fought for, collapsed around them and most notably – the men did nothing to protect them. Laws immediately introduced, included: women forced to veil; forbidden rights in marriage, divorce or child custody; the legal age for marriage lowered to nine; forbidden from dancing, singing in public, riding a bicycle, attending sports in stadiums; only travelling abroad with their husband’s permission and only allowed to sit at the back of the bus; husbands can prevent their wives from taking any job found to be incompatible with the family interest or the dignity of the husband or his wife. Women have no legal protection against domestic violence or sexual harassment by anyone and on and on and on… The growing autocracy of the ‘supreme leader’ indicated that 1979 simply witnessed the crown being replaced by the turban.
Fast forward to the 21st Century. All the restrictions and more in place. Imprisonment, torture, rape and death meted out to keep any dissenting women in line but they continue to push back. Young women, who for the first time, have less rights than their grandmothers, have a powerful tool – the internet and social media. Savvy enough to circumnavigate the restrictions via VPNs, they display their defiance. They dare to cut their hair, remove and burn the hijab (headscarf), a hated symbol of their oppression. Five young girls post a viral video dancing without their hijabs – they are later arrested.
In turn, the ruling regime hardened as the aging Supreme Leader lined up a successor. The ‘morality police’ are empowered with ‘hijab and chastity’ decrees. Technology is used – facial recognition and drones to hunt down the ‘undressed.’ The women counter and use the Gershad app to track the location of the morality squads.
Demonstrations continued in the streets in 2022 with a marked change in attitude from the male population, whose fathers and grandfathers stood by as the women were subjugated. This generation of Iranian men began to stand side by side with the women. But there was still a price to pay as more women lost their lives at the hands of the morality police. One death galvanized the movement, when on 16th September 2022, Mahsa Amini, a 22 year old student, died in custody after being picked up for ‘re-education’ for not following the hijab decree. A UN fact-finding mission claimed evidence showed she had died “as a result of beatings.” Her image was now used on banners in protests under the mantra: Women Life Freedom. Demonstrators also used the opportunity during the 2022 World Cup match between Iran and Wales, to display their dissent to an International audience.
The security forces were ruthless against the demonstrators on the streets and Amnesty International reported that on the night of 21 September alone, shootings by security forces left at least 19 people dead, including at least three children. Amnesty International reviewed photos and videos showing deceased victims with horrifying wounds in their heads, chests and stomachs.
One of the bravest images I have seen is of Ahou Daryaei, a 30-year-old French language student. On 2nd November 2024, in a powerful statement, she walked through the streets in her underwear until being picked up by plain clothes security men and bundled into a van. A university spokesman said she was suffering from mental health issues, a much used diagnosis for these brave women. However, Masih Alinejad, a prominent Iranian activist, in a message on X, said a student “harassed by her university’s morality police over her ‘improper’ hijab didn’t back down”. Although it is claimed Ahou was returned to her family, there have been no reports of her since.
Another tragic death was brave 16 year old Nika Shakarami, picked up from an anti-regime protest around the same time in 2022. Her body was found nine days later with a concocted story, from of suicide from the regime. The BBC received a leaked document, allegedly from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), stating that: Nika was detained by security forces and taken in an unmarked freezer van. She was sexually assaulted and beaten by three men in the back of the van. Her resistance to the assault provoked the men to beat her with batons, leading to her death. An IRGC officer ordered the men to dump Nika’s body on a street. Notably, she fought back despite the provocation leading to further abuse.
Female journalists are at the vanguard of reporting on these atrocities and unlike their western counterparts, do so on the pain of death. Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, were arrested for breaking the news of the death and funeral of Mahsa Amini in 2022. They were sentenced to 12 and 13 years respectively for “collusion and assembly against national security” and “propaganda activity against the regime.” Their sentences have now been reduced to five years each. Their plight has been acknowledged worldwide and they were named as laureates of the 2023 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. Audrey Azoulay, the UN Director General said “Now more than ever, it is important to pay tribute to all women journalists who are prevented from doing their jobs and who face threats and attacks on their personal safety. Today we are honouring their commitment to truth and accountability,” They have also been acknowledged as joint winners of both the 2023 International Press Freedom Award by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), and the 2023 Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism, presented by Harvard University in the United States. They were also named as two of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023.
Narges Mohammadi has worked for many years as a journalist and Vice-Director of the civil society organization Defenders of Human Rights Center. She is currently serving a 16-year sentence in Evin Prison. She has continued to report in print from prison. She has also interviewed other women prisoners, and these interviews are included in her book White Torture. Last year she won the Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) Courage Prize. At least 55 women journalists have been arrested. There are now 15 incarcerated women journalists since the start of protests over Mahsa Amini’s death.
American news outlet Vice, obtained a rare visa into the country – Isobel Yeung, a ballsy, British, female reporter, interviewed protesters and students who told her they were forced to sign a pledge to wear the scarf, to not sit next to someone of the opposite sex or to protest. Many have been expelled and, others, victims of shootings by the regime’s forces who shot at them indiscriminately in the streets. Isobel interviewed a minority Reformist Cleric, who disagreed with the regime, and believes, ‘if a woman wears a hijab out of fear, the hijab has no value.’ She also interviewed a spokeswoman for the government – ironically a minister for women – who was less generous about her fellow sex by implying that they do have freedom to choose, as long as it’s exactly what the Islamic regime says. Needless to say, the journalist and her team were detained, guns held to their heads, equipment confiscated and removed from the country.
I am aware of the amount of times I have used the word brave throughout this piece but quite frankly, I make no apology. I refuse to water down these women’s extraordinary acts of defiance and self-sacrifice for literary delicacies. There are many organisations retelling these stories, in the hope that this misogynistic regime and others like it are overthrown. Keep their names on your lips. Keep their hopes alive. Keep women’s rights at the forefront.
“You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women.”
Táhirih, 19th-century Iranian poet and women’s rights advocate, executed for her progressive views.
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